“Please turn on your Promethean Boards to channel 5 for your daily Panther Report.”

You hear these words every morning, but have you ever stopped to think what preparations go into making the morning announcements possible?

From script writing to graphics to lighting to picking out the right piece of music to play, a significant amount of work goes into producing a live show.

In a class of approximately 20 students, it takes each and every one of them moving in concert to get the job done, especially when a “heavy” Friday script needs to be tackled and accomplished to appear seemingly flawless and fit into that 12-minute time slot allotted by Dr. Yarbrough.

Preparations begin a day or two prior to the daily show with producers and directors working diligently to type up a script.

Tuesday through Friday scripts include cut-ins where anchors have to prepare their own scripts and hand them to a producer, director, or Television Production teacher Ms. Greene at least one day prior to airing.

On the day of a show, the student who creates graphics for the show is expected to come to class 10 minutes early or at least by the time the first bell rings for class so that they have enough time to create the graphics needed for the day or import them from the “slate bank” which holds all of the past graphics they’ve used on other airings of the announcements.

Other jobs include the floor director, who is responsible for lighting the set and giving directions and cues to the anchors.

Camera 1 controls trucking in and out of the show and getting anchor 1’s shot framed and focused. If there’s a cut-in that day, they have to move their camera so that they can capture the other anchor.

Camera 3 gets anchor 2’s shot.

Anchors read off their scripts from the teleprompter.

The teleprompter operator has to copy and paste the script into the program that allows the anchors to read the  the script off of the screens.

Audio controls the sound mics on the anchors and the music for the beginning and end of the show.

Assistant Technical Director (ATD) loads the title slates and videos into the program while the Technical Director (TD) switches and presets what the audience sees on the screen.

The director calls out orders to everyone, while the producer checks everything to make sure the show is running smoothly.

The crew usually runs 2-3 rehearsals before going live.

So, the next time that call on the intercom to tune your TV to channel 5 comes on, think about all of the hard work that goes into each show and tune in to your Panther Report.